Two former prime ministers and three others have until Feb 28 to file their statement of defence against a lawsuit over the cancellation of the RM110 billion High-Speed Rail (HSR) project between Malaysia and Singapore.
The Kuala Lumpur High Court gave these directions earlier today during case management of the writ of summons by Malaysian citizen Mohd Hatta Sanuri against Dr Mahathir Mohamad and Muhyiddin Yassin as well as three other defendants.
The other three defendants are former minister in the Prime Minister’s Department in charge of economy Mustapa Mohamed, former transport minister Wee Ka Siong and the Malaysian government.
When contacted by the media, counsel Mohaji Selamat, who is acting for plaintiff Hatta, confirmed the directions issued by the court.
The court had also set March 28 for the plaintiff to file his reply to the defence, as well as fixed March 30 for further case management of the matter.
Previously, Malaysiakini reported Hatta filing the legal action that seeks a court order to revive the project as well as demand that the five defendants cough up RM1 million in compensation to each Malaysian citizen.
Hatta came to the limelight previously over a failed legal bid against the government on the International Court of Justice (ICJ) awarding Singapore sovereignty over Pedra Branca (Pulau Batu Puteh). However, the 46-year-old has an ongoing appeal over this at the Court of Appeal.
According to the latest action’s statement of claim, Hatta alleged that Mahathir was negligent and committed the tort of misfeasance in public office when the then-prime minister made the decision to postpone the HSR project on Sept 5, 2018, which allegedly resulted in Malaysia paying RM46 million in compensation to Singapore on Jan 31, 2019.
The plaintiff claimed that Muhyiddin also committed negligence and tort of misfeasance in public office, as the prime minister then, by terminating the HSR project on Dec 31, 2020, and this purportedly led to Malaysia paying over RM320 million in compensation to Singapore in 2021 for the cancellation of the bilateral agreement between the two nations.
Previously on Jan 1, 2021, the media reported a joint media statement by then-prime minister Muhyiddin and Singapore’s Prime Minister Lee Shien Loong over the cancellation of the HSR project.
Hatta claimed that Mustapa was similarly negligent and committed misfeasance in public office over the postponement of the project and that Wee was also allegedly similarly negligent and perpetrated misfeasance in public office over the management of the project.
The plaintiff claimed that among the losses suffered by all Malaysians following the termination of the HSR project, was the loss of foreign investors’ confidence in the country; loss of 70,000 potential high-paying jobs from the project; loss of opportunity to gain RM70 billion in profits from HSR’s construction, operation and “multiplayer impact” as well as over RM366 million in losses due to Malaysia paying the compensation to Singapore.
Through the present legal action, the plaintiff seeks several reliefs, among them a declaration to nullify the cancellation of the HSR project.
Hatta seeks a declaration to compel the defendants to pay RM1 million in damages and compensation to every Malaysian citizen.
The plaintiff also seeks a court order to compel the five defendants to give a written explanation regarding the reasons for the postponement and cancellation of the project.
The Attorney-General’s Chambers (AGC) is acting for all five defendants.
On Aug 22 last year, then-prime minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob expressed interest in expediting the revival of the HSR project with Singapore as soon as possible.
This came after a statement issued by his Singapore counterpart Lee on Nov 29, 2021, who said he was open to the idea of a new project proposal.
Both countries first inked the bilateral agreement on HSR on Dec 13, 2016, during the Malaysian administration of then-prime minister Najib Abdul Razak.
The RM110 billion project, which involves 350km of development, was intended to shorten the travel time from Kuala Lumpur to Singapore to only 90 minutes.
On Dec 13 last year, Bernama reported the Johor state government expressed its readiness to collaborate and cooperate with the federal government over a possible revival of the project. - Mkini
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